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Gaia
=Creation= :Gaia was originally born out of Chaos, the wide darkness that straddled the universe before anything had been fully created. Gaia was first, but after her came: Tartarus, the underworld, then Eros, god of erotic love. Then, yearning to have children of her own, Gaia birthed, by herself, Uranus, the lord of the stars and sky, and Pontus, the sea. Uranus and his mother loved each other to the extent of sexual relations, and they were married. Uranus, loving his mother-wife, showered the Earth with fertile rains that gave birth to the trees and grasses as we know today. Gaia, in her happiness, created mountains and sea's across her planet, and the world was created. Original Children :Gaia's first children by Uranus were the 100-armed Giants, known as Hecatonchires, Cottus (Hecatonchire), Briareos (Hecatonchire), and Gyges (Hecatonchire). Then Gaia birthed the giant, single-eyed Cyclops, Brontes (Cyclops), Sterodes (Cyclops), and Arges (Cyclops). Finally, Gaia bore the divine Titans, the ancestors of the Gods. There names were: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapteus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys, and the youngest and most wily, Cronus. =Uranus Deposed= :Gaia's lordly husband, Uranus, was a fearful being. He was afraid of his monstrous children and locked away the Hecatonchiress and Cyclops in Tartarus. These beings were annoyed and began to thrash inside their prison; this caused Gaia much pain, because Tartarus is literally her bowels. When her pain became unbearable, she sought out her Titan offspring and asked them if any would help her depose their father. Cronus readily agreed, and at the bidding of his mother, took a scythe, and, as Uranus came to lay with Gaia, dismembered him and tossed the seven pieces into the seven oceans of the Earth. Uranus's head was thrown into the sea that could be seen from Greece, and as it sunk, it proclaimed that as Cronus had deposed his own father, Cronus's son would depose him too. Offspring from Gaia and Uranus's Blood :When Cronus cut up his father, blood fell and showered the Earth. From this rain sprung children, including: the Giants, the Furies, the ash-tree nymphs or Meliae, and when the blood showered into the foamy ocean, Aphrodite rose from the waves. =Cronus's Reign= :When Uranus was gone, Cronus and his sister-wife, Rhea, were made King and Queen of the world. Cronus, to the intense aggravation of his mother, re-imprisoned the Hecatonchires and the Cyclops and the Giants in Tartarus once more. He also did his best to stop his father's prophecy from becoming reality. When Rhea was pregnant, he would swallow the child whole the moment it was born. Rhea grew tired of this the sixth time she was in labor, and tricked Cronus into eating a stone instead of the child, Zeus. When Zeus had grown, he tricked Cronus into regurgitating all of his children, who had been living and growing inside his stomach. Zeus and his brothers and sisters, along with the Hecatonchires, Cyclops, and Giants (whom they had freed) battled Cronus and his brothers, the Titans, in a war for the world. The gods eventually won, and all of the Titans who had fought against them were sent to various prisons in Tartarus. =Gaia's Final Plot= :As Zeus and his siblings were settling into Mt. Olympus to begin their reign, Gaia was hatching a plot. She was not fond of the gods ruling, and planned to get the Titans back in control. She incited the Giants, the blood children of her and Uranus, to rise up and destroy the gods. They were led by Alcyoneus and Porphyrion. Another pair, Otus and Ephialtes, scaled the mountains Ossa and Pelion one top of one another in order to scale Olympus. The gods would have surely been defeated if Heracles hadn't been there to save them, he slew Alcyoneus single-handedly and finished off Porphyrion who had been wounded by Zeus. The other named Giants were killed by: Enceladus and Pallas, killed by Athena, Hippolytus was slain by Hermes, Apollo and Artemis slew Ephialtes and Gration with arrows, respectively; Eurytos was killed by Dionysus with his thrysos, Agrios and Thoon were clubbed to death by the Moirae, Hepheastus killed Mimas with his hot metal, and Hecate destroyed Clytius with flaming torches. Typhon :Typhon was the final child of Gaia, he was her last chance to destroy the gods. Typhon was the son of Gaia and Tartarus, the consort of Echidna and the sire of many monsters. He was said to have had one hundred heads that stretched far higher than Olympus. A hundred dragon-heads were under his arms, and under his thighs was coil after coil of vipers. He could breathe fire as well. When he came upon Olympus, all the gods ran for their lives, except Zeus, who stood firm. But Typhon merely threw him into a cave and set one of his dragon heads to guard the mouth. Eventually, Hermes, (and sometimes Pan as well) rescued Zeus and he ran back into battle. Typhon refused to be defeated, and Zeus, finally, forced Typhon near Mt. Etna and then proceeded to throw Etna on top of Typhon, and he remains trapped there for all eternity. =Gaia in the End= :Gaia could not be punished for her actions, since she was the Earth-goddess, and to harm Gaia would mean destroying the world. However, Gaia grew accustomed to her children's children reigning, and helped them in their troubles, and could usually be depended upon. =Other Children= :Gaia mothered many other children throughout her existence, including: *With Oceanus ** Creusa ** Sperchus *With Pontus ** Ceto ** Eurybia ** Phorcys ** Nereus ** Thaumus *With Poseidon ** Antaeus ** Charybdis *With Hepheastus ** Ericthonius of Athens *Unknown ** Mimas ** Cranaus ** Pheme ** Kekrops ** Amphictyon ** Python